The members of Hannibal High School Academic Team are proud to again host The Winter Academic INvitational (TWAIN) at Hannibal, and invite your team to participate in our tournament at HHS, scheduled for January 27th, 2018. This tournament will consist of a minimum of eight games for all teams in a modified national format:

Each game shall consist of two halves of ten tossups each, with each correct tossup followed by a three-part bonus.

Correct tossup answers are ten points each. An additional five-point “power” is awarded for a correct answer given before a pre-determined point in the tossup. All tossups are five seconds, and there are no math computation tossups.

Unlike other national tournaments, we will NOT assess a five-point penalty for interrupting the moderator during the tossup with an incorrect answer.

The team that receives the bonus will have five seconds to answer each part. The moderator will prompt after four seconds. Each incorrect part will immediately rebound, with the rebounding team expected to provide an answer within three seconds. Unless otherwise specified in a bonus set, each bonus part shall be ten points each.

In the event a game is tied after regulation, additional tossups shall be read until the next change in score.

Each team shall have one 30 second timeout per half. Substitutions, scorechecks, and team conferences may occur at the half, prior to overtime, or during any timeout called by either team.

Teams rosters shall be limited to seven players; schools are encouraged to bring junior varsity and “B” teams to compete. Teams may play with fewer than four players. Rosters shall be submitted in advance and finalized at registration the morning of the tournament. Players may not change teams during the tournament.

We will again mirror the GSAC set written by members of the quiz bowl team at Maggie Walker Governor's School in Virginia. While no other mirrors have been announced for Missouri yet, we anticipate this set also being mirrored in the St Louis and Kansas City areas. If you attend TWAIN, you will not be able to participate in any other tournament using the set. (A complete list of mirrors and set information is available in GSAC’s mirror thread.)

Teams will play five morning rounds, break for lunch, then return for three afternoon games. This setup is subject to change, depending on the number of teams signed up. We plan to start the team meeting at 8:30 a.m. in the cafeteria, with the first round set for at 8:50 a.m. and afternoon rounds slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. With the exception of any playoff games for trophies, we anticipate the last game ending around 4 p.m. Tentatively, trophies will be presented to the top three overall teams, as well as the top public school team whose school population does not exceed 400 students in grades 9-12.

We are initially limiting the field to 24 teams, with plans to expand to 36 teams. Additional teams will be placed on a waitlist and contacted should an opening occur.

Fee structure is as follows, per school:

First team: $65

Additional teams: $60

Discount for travelling more than 100 miles each way (determined by Google Maps): $10

Discount for providing a working buzzer set: $5 (maximum $10)

Discount for providing competent staff: $5 per staffer (maximum $10)

All discounts are subject to the discretion of tournament officials.

Hannibal High School is located at 4500 McMasters Avenue, on the right side of Highway 61 northbound, north of Highway 36/Interstate 72. Parking is available on either end of the building. There are many lunch options close to the school. McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Long John Silver’s are directly across from the school, but with a 1-2 minute drive you can also find Subway, Hardee’s, KFC, several Mexican and Chinese options, etc.

The tournament is under the direction of Hannibal High School Coach Amy Sternke and veteran scholar bowl moderator Kyle Hill of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance, an organization dedicated to promoting quality scholar bowl tournaments around the state. We anticipate receiving certification and assistance from their membership.

To register for this tournament, please visit http://tinyurl.com/TWAIN2018Registration.Teams outside the state of Missouri are welcome to register; however, owing to MSHSAA’s sanctioning process, we ask that any teams from out of state register prior to December 18th.

Questions concerning the tournament may be directed to either Amy Sternke at [email protected] or Kyle Hill at [email protected]. Please include “TWAIN 2018” in the subject line.

We look forward to seeing you at Hannibal High School on January 27th.

Last edited by Atlashill on Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.

We are now listed as a Platinum Certified Tournament by the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE). Therefore teams that finish in the the top 25 percent of the field should receive bids to take part in the 2018 National Scholastic Championship, set for June 2nd and 3rd in Washington DC.

We can now say that the top seveneight teams should qualify for NSC, as we've just expanded the field to 2832. If we are able to secure enough additional staff, we will continue with the push to expand to 36 teams.

To ensure that we will end up with an even number of teams, Hannibal will field up to two house teams.

Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.

We've also had an opening develop in the field. If you haven't signed up yet and want to compete, please do so!
Update: field is full again. We'll still welcome entries to the waitlist in the event of any potential drops.

Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.

We've tweaked the cutoff for the small school award, which might sound melodious to some of our area schools: The cutoff is now 440 students grades 9-12.

Again, only public schools are eligible for the small school award, and populations are based off the most recent figure used by MSHSAA (or a corresponding state activities association) for classification purposes.

Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.

Washington A cleared the field to finish an unblemished 11-0 and win today's tournament. Macomb A, Moberly and Southwestern (Piasa) A finished tied at 1-2 among playoff teams, resulting in a three-way tie for second which was played off in favor of Piasa. Macomb A finished third. Centralia A needed to play an advantaged final against North Shelby A, defeating the Raiders in the first game to win the small school title.

Caleb Carrigan of Rochester was our top individual scorer with 87 points per game in the five preliminary rounds.

The expansion of our tournament to 36 teams, including 15 teams from eight schools across Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, would have not been possible without the incredible support and partnership I once again enjoyed with Hannibal Head Coach Amy Sternke. The constant collaboration which began not long after last year's inaugural tournament led us to this expanded push to bring together the top teams along the US-36 corridor and beyond. Appreciation is also extended to the members of Hannibal High School's team, as well as principal Ted Sampson, activities director Clint Graham, and the administration of Hannibal Schools for again allowing us to host so many teams on campus today.

We are already mulling improvements for next year's tournament; if you have any comments about this year's tournament or suggestions for next year, please reach out to either Coach Sternke or me. In the meantime, best wishes on the remainder of your season, and "Be Safe! Be Smart!"

Kyle Hill—Liberty (Mo.) '03—Truman State '07Moderator for hire based in Sedalia, Mo.

Congrats on a successful tournament! If anyone would like to give any feedback on the question set or see specific questions, join the private forum by going to User Control Panel > Usergroups > 2017 GSAC Discussion > Submit. Thanks!